Winter camping with the military - northern lights and enough diesel fumes for a lifetime

Members of 8 Platoon debrief in their 10-man tent at Forward Operating Base Maiden 1 during Exercise Arctic Ram near Yellowknife on Feb. 13, 2012. Approximately 1,500 Canadian soldiers and Rangers participated in Arctic Ram to re-familiarize the army with a harsh winter environment and to exercise Canada’s Arctic sovereignty.

Photograph by: Ryan Jackson
, edmontonjournal.com

YELLOWKNIFE, N.W.T. - Camping with the military means a constant hum of idling armoured vehicles, enough diesel fumes to last a lifetime, and a bag and bucket for a toilet.

Most troops are without cellphone contact for a month, but they got a 10-minute call on a satellite phone for Valentine’s Day. Throughout the day, soldiers took their turns, seeking out the forest edge, voices soft and faces suddenly relaxed.

Photographer Ryan Jackson and I embedded with a platoon of the infantry for two nights on the training exercise Arctic Ram.

We stayed in a 10-man tent hidden in the woods 37 kilometres outside Yellowknife. As temperatures dropped to -21 C overnight last week, each soldier took his or her turn on stove duty, manning the Colman double-burner to keep the heavy, rubberized canvas tent warm enough for a good sleep. Double sleeping bags helped. The troops put one thick, down sleeping bag inside another, then wrapped the whole thing in a waterproof, canvas bivy bag and laid it on a thin mattress on the hard-packed snow.

It got crowded when they hung the insoles of the boots to dry on the cord along the ceiling, but all the assault riffles stay outside where they won’t get damp and rust.

Most troops supplemented their army kit with their own mattresses for warmth and they had other tricks. Sgt. Joe Stefanko bought an $8 computer fan in downtown Yellowknife, attached a 12-volt battery and mounted it above his bed.

“I use that to blow the heat back down,” said Stefanko, posted with military communications.

I stayed warm with thick down parka lent by a great friend, and hot pads in my mittens to warm my fingers after taking notes.

Hot food helped. At the forward operating base they kept threatening to cut down to one hot meal a day, but while we were there we still had three. The mess hall was heated and lit, and had a canteen where soldiers could buy cigarettes, chew, and chocolate bars.

We got rations for one lunch. They took 30 minutes to heat from frozen rather than the 10 minutes usually required in Afghanistan, but they were hot and tasty when done. I had cabbage rolls, and brought an extra ration – Thai chicken – back to Edmonton.

The worst part of camp were the toilets. Guys peed outside into a five-gallon pail that freezes and were trucked out when full.

For everything else, there’s the toilet tent. Tear open a bag, spread it over the top of a bucket, do your business, then seal the bag and throw it out. Each bag has specially packaged with a wad of toilet paper and a (frozen) sanitary wipe.

The other odd thing was trying to get information. So much of it seemed to come through back channels, soldiers telling soldiers about a friend who knew one of the Petawawa guys, the fictional enemies. Other soldiers heard rumours of a helicopter crash.

It happened Monday. We didn’t get details until Wednesday when we were back at the temporary headquarters. It turns out no one was injured but a helicopter severed the main power line running into Yellowknife. The city went dark and residents have been warned to expect rotating blackouts for 10 days as crews found parts in the south.

The best part of camp was the northern lights – absolutely amazing.

The first night they were a steady green glow like the stroke of a paint brush from one side of the sky to the other. The second night, when I left the tent to pee before crawling into my sleeping bag, they were green, red and yellow, and moving like a light shower of rain when it caught a gust of wind and scattered across the road.

I probably stood on the road for 20 minutes by myself, watching and thinking about a children’s story I once read where the Inuit called these lights the spirits of their ancestors. I tried to listen for the whistling sound they make, but either they weren’t calling my name this time or the hum of the diesel generators drowned them out.

Members of 8 Platoon debrief in their 10-man tent at Forward Operating Base Maiden 1 during Exercise Arctic Ram near Yellowknife on Feb. 13, 2012. Approximately 1,500 Canadian soldiers and Rangers participated in Arctic Ram to re-familiarize the army with a harsh winter environment and to exercise Canada’s Arctic sovereignty.

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